Foreign Legion - The Ivory Coast

By Admin
May 12 2005

We profile the players from the Ivory Coast who have turned out the Saddlers...

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SAMASSI ABOU

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Apps - 8

Goal - 0

Period - October -
November 1999

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He
began his career with Martigues, but soon moved on to bigger things with Lyon.
He spent two seasons as a first team regular, but his poor goal scoring form
soon him pushed to the fringes of first team action.

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He eventually moved on
to Cannes for the 96-97 season. Having failed with Lyon he had something to
prove, and he set about rebuilding his career. It didn't take much time for
him to settle in and he was soon wooing French crowds with his silky skills
and dynamic forward play. Harry Redknapp was suitably impressed and splashed
out £200,000 to secure his services midway through the season.

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He went on to become one
of the most recognizable players in the Premiership. His wacky hairstyle
and unique style of play made him a cult hero with the Upton Park
faithful. If Abou could have applied his undoubted talent in the right
kind of way then he could have been a big success with the Hammers. As
it stands he failed to deliver what West Ham needed - goals. Just like
at Lyon he soon found himself outside the first team picture.

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It was around about this
time that he moved to Walsall. We had just been promoted to the First
Division and needed a quality striker to partner Andy Rammell. A
position that had been filled by a series of on-loan journey men the
season before.

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Abou was brought in much
to the joy of the Walsall fans who were pleased to have a big name
player at the Club.

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His
debut came in a 2-1 defeat to Stockport where he partnered Andy Rammell up
front. The game was settled bv a Tony Dinning goal. After just one
game you could see why both Lyon and West Ham had taken a chance in signing
him. You could only call his style of play unique. His first touch set him
apart from everyone else on the field.

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As
his spell drew on, you also began to see why he frustrated so many of
his managers. His work rate was comparable to Kyle Lightbournes on a bad
day. He would drift in and out of games showing moments of brilliance
but vast swaths of laziness.

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One
of those memorable moments came against West Bromwhich Albion. A
sublime bit of individual skill saw Abou rattle the Albion bar with a
well placed shot that deserved a goal. From the moment the ball left his
foot you could have heard a pin drop in the Hawthorns. We
went on to win the game thanks to an Andy Rammell goal, but that Abou
effort is still fresh in the memory.

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Abou
left the Club without a goal after 8 games. Maybe in a more productive
team he would have found the net on a regular basis. Then again, if you
look at his goal scoring record over the course of his career i wouldn't
have put money him reaching double figures if he played for Real
Madrid.

His
next loan move was to Promotion chasing Ipswich. His one month stay at
Portman Road finished with 5 appearances and 1 goal.

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Abou
went on to have one more loan spell before leaving West Ham. This time he went
North of the Border to play for Kilmarnock. This was yet another loan spell
that ended without a goal.

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Having failed to make an
impact in the English game he headed back over to France where he signed
for Corsican minnows AC Ajacio. Abou enjoyed a fair amount of success
out in Corsica, achieving promotion during his second season.

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Unfortunately
for Abou he wasn't going to figure in there Ligue 1 plans and he moved
on to another Ligue 2 Club - Loreient. Loreient were Abou's last
known Professional Club.

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Should you have any
information on his where abouts or career then please leave us a message
on the forum or e-mail TheSaddlersFC@hotmail.com.